


Better Than Gold

by ashkore_varg



Category: Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Based on a Tumblr Post, Bodyguard AU, Chewie is a hundred percent done, Han is a dumb bitch, Han is also the ultimate pining bitch, Lando is a highborn (as he should be) but also a thot, Lando is also a party animal, M/M, Poorly Timed Confession, There's no age difference between Han and Lando
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-10-31 15:42:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17852417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashkore_varg/pseuds/ashkore_varg
Summary: [...]Han had argued that it was only about the easy money, about never having to worry about having food in his stomach and a roof over his head, or a comfortable bunk to curl up in at night. Yet Chewie knew it was more than just those material things.Mind you, no matter his attitude, Chewie had grown fond of their employer himself, but he had never been blind to the way Han looked when Lando Calrissian paid attention to him.[...]





	Better Than Gold

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, hello, how are ya?!
> 
> I wanted to let you know that I'm the same person who wrote the Solorissian fic [A New Perspective](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16570697/chapters/38827748), that you can find here  and this is my new AO3 account. I won't be getting rid of the other one, but I'll be posting on here from now on.
> 
> But back to this story! It was originally inspired by an ask game on tumblr (you can find me @ [missaristocrat](http://missaristocrat.tumblr.com/) there) where people could give me a ship and two tropes, the ship that was given to me by my darling friend [starkass](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkass/pseuds/starkass) ♥ was Bodyguard AU + poorly timed confession. So... Here goes nothing! LMAO 
> 
> Please do let me know if you enjoy this, it would mean a lot!

When they had considered taking up this job, Chewbacca had rolled his eyes and rumbled to Han that he wasn't fit for it. He couldn't possibly function as an employee, Han had always wanted to be his own boss, and Chewie had the exact same feelings. Wookies had an history of being enslaved, after all, and the last thing he wanted was being ordered around by anyone. 

Yet there they were, getting hired long term in a security team for one of the biggest celebrities of the galaxy. 

"We get paid a ridiculous amount of credits just to make sure no one bothers him, I mean... We don't even need to do this for long, we can work for him a couple months and then bail." Han had said to try and convince his friend. 

Chewie didn't fancy being anybody's bodyguard, but at the end of the day he and Han were so broke they could barely afford to eat on a regular basis, and he thought that a few months of work for this highborn son of a blaster wouldn't hurt. 

Except they never bailed, and stayed by the guy's side for many years. 

Han had argued that it was only about the easy money, about never having to worry about having food in his stomach and a roof over his head, or a comfortable bunk to curl up in at night. Yet Chewie knew it was more than just those material things. 

Mind you, no matter his attitude, Chewie had grown fond of their employer himself, but he had never been blind to the way Han looked when Lando Calrissian paid attention to him. 

Han would never admit it out loud, but it was clear as day that through time he had developed certain feelings for the man he had been looking out for, for all those years. 

It wasn't an easy task, either. Most of the times it was like Lando _wanted_ to be in danger. Han and Chewie had always thought it was just a way to rebel against his status, against his family. 

Lando never liked how restrictive it was to live as a noble, and being constantly under the harsh and judgmental scrutiny of the public. He was supposed to act a certain way, to never be caught doing anything that could be seen as inappropriate, to be a role model for people he didn't even know and so forth. 

All these obligations thrusted upon a young man whose only desire was to enjoy what life had to offer, turned him into the complete opposite of what his strict parents wanted him to be. That was one of the many reasons why Han and Chewie had been hired for, to protect him mostly from himself. 

Sure, there were the rabid fans to keep at bay, a few people getting too handsy and crazy while he walked from a location to the other. There were also those people who didn't like him or his family and their political involvement, but nothing too severe had happened, besides insults hurled at him from a distance. But there were just those times in which it seemed like Lando was setting himself up for the worst to happen to him. 

Through the years, what started out as just a job, became something different for Han. They had become friends, or something of the likes - it wasn't always easy to deal with each other when they both had such strong personalities, and when at the end of the day Lando was still Han's boss. 

Yet feelings that went beyond a simple, innocent friendship seeped into the professional aspect, and Lando had only fueled them by always being very vocal about claiming Han as his favorite bodyguard. He dragged him everywhere, and way too many times Han had been around to see him lose way too much money at Sabacc, to see him flirt with every boy, girl and whatever was in between and beyond. He was there when he drank too much and had to hold his forehead as his stomach turned on him, he was there when he invited too many people in his hotel rooms.

Han was there when Lando came down from every sort of high, to hold him upright and sober him up for an important meeting, he was there when his parents threatened to take away everything he possessed, and he had seen him cry when he thought no one was watching. 

Han's heart kept breaking, but it was all self-inflicted, just like Chewie had growled to him, way too many times. He could have gotten out of it whenever he wanted, but he just... Wouldn't. 

They screamed at each other occasionally, then couldn't help but make up one way or the other, because for some reason Han couldn't leave him to his own devices, and because Lando knew he needed him. 

There had been moments and episodes that made Han question whether Lando's feelings were mutual, from small things like fingers brushing innocently across Han's hand and even his face, big and warm smiles that he was convinced Lando only reserved to him, long meaningful glances, to things that had shaken him to his very core. 

At times, Lando would fall asleep with his head on Han's shoulder, and when Han had to wake him up, Lando would whine and bury his face into the crook of Han's neck, making him shiver like a leaf in the wind. There had been a couple occasions in which Lando, being various degrees of intoxicated and lustful, had tried to drag Han into his hotel rooms, whether there was already someone waiting for him in bed or not. 

Han specifically remembered an episode in which he'd almost given in, it had been so hard to refrain back then. It was Lando's 24th birthday, and Han, Chewie and other people from his security team had been working for hours on end in the club where Lando had decided to celebrate and drink gallons of alcohol with the hundreds of people he had invited. 

Around 5 in the morning, after Lando's body had already gotten rid of some of the booze he had consumed, Han had walked him to his suite and got inside to make sure he wouldn't randomly pass out and crack his head open. While he had followed him to the bedroom, Lando had started shedding his clothes, piece by piece, until he was only wearing a pair of red silk boxer briefs as he stood by the bed. Han vividly remembered how his mouth had gone completely dry, and the front of his pants had become unbearably tight, especially when Lando had turned around to beckon him to get closer. 

"You need to get some sleep, you got a lunch with your parents later." Han had managed to utter without stuttering, even while Lando was grabbing him by his clothes to pull him closer. 

"You need some rest, too. You must be exhausted." Lando had said as he had tried to peel Han's jacket off. 

"Lando, what are you-" Han asked, but the words had died in his throat when Lando had sat down on the bed and had pulled him to lay on top of him. 

"You're always so good to me..." Lando had murmured, their faces mere inches apart. 

Han was rarely speechless, he always thought and acted quick, and his brain could always come up with something to say, whether it was right or wrong, he just always had an answer. Yet he hadn't been able to say anything, not that time, not when Lando had cupped his jaw and peered so intensely into his eyes that he thought he'd combust. He still remembered the way in which his heart had hammered in his chest and ears, and when he had thought that Lando was just about to kiss him, Han had pushed himself off of him.

"You're still drunk." Han had said. 

"So what?" Lando had growled, unable to roll on his side to glare at Han. 

"We can't." Han had insisted. 

Lando had gone silent, and Han had to check whether or not he had fallen asleep, but he was actually just staring up at the ceiling. Back then, Han had wondered if he'd hurt his feelings, but he was certain that he wouldn't have remembered anything once he'd awaken later that day, and he had been right. 

He never told a soul about it, he kept that memory to himself and wished to forget about it just like Lando had, but it was engraved in his brain as a reminder that what he wished for simply couldn’t be achieved.

 

 

***

  


Years went by, and as Lando grew older, he also started to realize that life couldn't just be about partying and angering his parents. Things started to affect him more, and he began to realize that most of the people who claimed to be his friends only hung out with him because of his money, because of his status and his fame. 

So one evening, while he and Han sat in the back of his limo-speeder, and Chewie sat in the front driving, Lando let out a hollow little laugh. 

Han furrowed his eyebrows, his attention suddenly focusing on Lando, instead of the comlink he was tweaking with. 

"What's so funny?" Han asked, tilting his head as he tried to read Lando's expression.

 "People," Lando shrugged a shoulder, and picked a lint from the bright orange cape he was wearing "or maybe life in general." 

One of Han's eyebrows quirked up at the statement, he was still trying to get used to this version of Lando. A way less joyful one, one that didn’t like parties and people that much anymore. 

"Guess it is," Han agreed, momentarily going back to the comlink "I wouldn't have to deal with you, if it wasn't so _funny_." 

"You had plenty of occasions to stop dealing with me." Lando promptly replied, his tone dry. 

"Yet I'm still here, ain't I?" Han sighed, shifting into his seat, eyes still glued to the device he was trying to fix.

He could tell that something was bothering Lando, but he wasn't going to forcefully pry it from him. He knew how to make him talk, and it was usually by bugging him with sarcasm. 

"I could always cut your pay. See how you like that." Lando went on, still not looking at Han in the eye. 

"I already don't get paid enough to deal with all of your bantha crap." Han raised his eyebrows, tilting his head as to make a point. 

“Is that so?” Lando finally turned to look at him, eyebrow cocked and a mildly annoyed expression painted on his features. 

“You never made my job easy, have you?” Han retorted, locking gazes with him. 

It was time to stop fiddling with whatever he was holding and stuff it all back into his pockets. Lando was in a mood, and Han needed to understand what was swarming through that head of his, because so far he didn’t like it much. 

“Yet here you are,” Lando shrugged a shoulder, “like everyone else around me. Drawn to me like a moth to the flame, just to get the feeling of being rich and famous by proxy.” 

Han wanted to laugh, but the sound got stuck in his throat and only came out as a strangled huff. Lando apparently had finally got the memo that he had tried to slip him for a long time, about all the nasty people who circled him like vultures, but to be unfairly pushed into that same group truly hurt. 

“I don’t give a damn about being famous,” Han started, eyebrows drawing together as he spoke “maybe rich, but all the pressure of being known through the entire galaxy? No, thanks. I don’t need that.” 

“Tell me about it…” Lando mumbled as he shook his head and turned to look out the tinted windows of the limo, watching the city speed by. “No one gives a damn about you when you’re famous, not really. It’s all pretend.” 

So that was what had been going on in his mind all that time, Han looked at him and pressed his lips together into a thin line. He probably thought that the only reason why he was still sitting inside that limospeeder with him had to be the credits he was getting paid with. 

“No, not all of it is pretend.” Han suddenly blurted out, and Lando looked at him again, an arched eyebrow and a skeptical expression on his features. He didn’t say anything in reply, so Han went on “Some people actually _do_ give a damn.” 

“Who? The ones who try to marry me, so that they’ll earn a noble title?” Lando snorted “Or the ones who try to sleep with me, so they have something to tell their friends about?”

“Chewie gives a damn about you.” Han said before realizing how incredibly stupid that must have sounded. 

Why bring up Chewie like that? 

“Alright…” Lando blinked “The Wookie that gets paid to protect me gives a damn about me. That definitely doesn’t sound like those other people, too.” 

“So do your other friends, Luke and Leia.” Han kept bringing other people up, feeling his stomach knotting up at the idea of being really close to revealing how he truly felt about him. 

“Alright, maybe they do. They sympathize because they’re high born, like me.” Lando shrugged a shoulder. 

“Your family cares about you.” Han continued, feeling more and more stupid by the minute. 

“On a good day, they tolerate me.” Lando’s lips stretched into a hollow smile “Look, Han. It’s alright. I’ll be fine. You don’t have to change my mind, right now. It is what it is.” 

Lando placed a hand on Han’s knee, and his heart skipped a beat. He looked down at his hand and his mind began to race and wonder.

What if he just placed his hand over Lando’s and told him right there and then how he felt? Would he lose his job? Would Chewie also be fired? What if all the signs that he thought meant that Lando returned his feelings were just him being his usual flirtatious self? 

Han was just moments away from screwing this all up by taking Lando’s hand in his, when Chewie stopped the limo and announced with a roar that they had reached their destination. 

What an incredible timing. 

“Let’s go.” Lando sucked in a breath and moved his hand away from Han’s knee to adjust his clothes “I got more pretend friends to please, once again.” 

Han let his eyes fall shut for a brief second, checked the blaster that he always kept with himself and got out of the car first. Chewie was already outside, ignoring the shouting of the small crowd of people that was waiting by the restaurant where Lando was supposed to attend a dinner. 

Han scanned the crowd, trying to determine whether someone would have been a threat to Lando, but they mostly seemed like either teenagers or people in their early twenties who idolized him, and definitely didn’t want to harm him. 

Chewie growled something and Han frowned. 

“There’s nothing wrong with my face, it’s just my face.” Han retorted, moving to the other side of the limo, so that they could open the door for Lando. 

Chewie shook his head and rumbled on. 

“He’s not my boyfriend, we weren’t having a domestic. Knock it off.” Han growled through gritted teeth, then opened the door of the limo. 

As soon as Lando got out, the crowd exploded in cheer, and he gifted them all with one of his biggest grins and a wave of the hand. Han and Chewie stood by each of his sides, so that he could decide whether to walk towards the restaurant or give his admirers a moment of his time. 

“Lando! Sign this, please!”   
  
“Lando, I got a present for you!”   
  
Lando this. Lando that. Everyone was calling out to him and trying to get his attention, and in the craziness of it all, Han spotted someone in the back of the crowd looking awfully suspicious. 

“It’s kinda late, we should get you safely inside.” Han suggested, speaking directly into Lando’s ear. 

“It’s fine, they can wait for me.” Lando assured him. 

Han would have wanted to protest and try to point out the suspicious figure that had been looming amongst his fans, but… It had vanished. There was no long any sign of the person he’d spotted just a few seconds earlier, so he tried to brush it off as a figment of his imagination. 

“Alright.” Han nodded, and let Lando get closer to the fans, while Chewie kept the more exuberant ones at bay. 

Things started out normal, with Lando speaking to the people and the people asking for whatever they wished from him, but it all quickly escalated when the figure suddenly appeared right in the middle of the crowd and raised a blaster to Lando, ready to fire. 

Han acted quickly, shouting for people to duck and shoving Lando out of the way at the exact same moment in which the shooter fired and hit Han instead. 

It burned. That was all that he could feel, then he was falling on the ground while everyone screamed. He heard Chewbacca roar, then Lando’s voice called out to him, but he couldn’t see him. 

“Han? Han!” Lando kept shouting. 

Han could feel a pair of arms pulling him up, and a hand touching his face and chest, and only after a while he was able to cough and see Lando’s face coming into his field of view.

“Han, can you hear me? Han!” 

There were tears streaming down his face, or at least Han thought so. He coughed again, there was a metallic taste in his mouth and an ache that spread through his entire chest and right arm. He didn’t know if he was going to make it, the blood in his mouth wasn’t very reassuring. 

“Hey…” he croaked out “Don’t cry.” 

“I’m not!” Lando half-shouted “That… Son of a blaster, I-” 

“‘Salright…” Han closed his eyes for a moment, then slowly opened them again. 

He was so cold and tired. He was really struggling to keep his eyes open. 

“We’ll get you to the hospital soon, stay with me.” Lando cupped his cheek and gently cradled him. 

“Lando…” 

“Yes?” 

“If I don’t make it-” Han started, but was quickly cut off.  
  
“Don’t even think about it!” Lando growled.

“I didn’t do it for the credits…” Han coughed, then hissed in pain. 

“Han, stop talking.” Lando sighed and shook his head “Save your energy.” 

“’S‘cause I love you.” 

The last thing Han remembered when his strength drained completely, and he lost his senses was Lando’s bewildered expression, then darkness and silence took over.

  
  


***

  
  


Snowflakes started falling on the already frozen surface of the clearing, it was incredibly cold, and Han couldn't quite understand why he was standing in the snow without his boots. His brown, leather jacket was useless in such low temperatures, he could feel his teeth rattle and shivers started jolting down his spine. He tried to wrap his arms around his own torso to try and warm up a bit, but he couldn't. 

It was no use staying there, he could feel his lashes freeze together with the tips of his hair. He took a good look around and all he could see was white. The ground was white, the trees were white, and so was the sky. He would have found the whole scenery beautiful, if he wasn't afraid of freezing to death, so he started to walk. 

For the first time in his life, he thought that maybe Lando's stupid fur capes weren't so stupid after all, he'd have killed to get his aching hands on one. 

Where was Lando, anyway? And Chewie? 

He couldn't understand why they weren't together, he was starting to get worried about them, too. There was an eerie sensation in the back of his head that kept telling him that he had been knocked out cold and left to die in the snow, so that a gang could get their slimy hands on Lando and make his family pay quite a sum of money for his release. 

Shit, he was surely getting sloppy at his own job. He had left Chewie alone to fend for both Lando and himself, and now they were both in danger. If something were to happen to them, he didn't think he could ever be able to forgive himself. He needed to run faster, but everything hurt. His legs, his feet, his toes, his fingers, his hands, his arms, his jaw, his nose. Everything ached so much. 

He kept trying to push through, even if he felt like his feet were starting to bleed and his legs were so hardened by the soreness in the muscles and the merciless cold, he couldn't let anything bad happen to his best friend and the man he loved. 

What if he never got a chance to tell Lando that he loved him? That would be the sort of regret that would have eaten him alive, and tormented him to his very last day on that galaxy. He needed to let Lando know, he needed to... But he was too weak. He was too tired. He was too cold. 

He fell to his knees, his lungs aching from the lack of air, the tears that rolled down his cheeks turned to ice the moment they flowed out. He couldn't continue. He had failed them, both of them.

He tried to scream but no sound came out of his mouth, then he fell face first into the snow, and everything turned to black. 

When he attempted to wake up, his eyelids weren't cooperating, and so was the rest of his body. All of his limbs felt incredibly heavy, but he could feel something warm wrapped around his right hand. He couldn't quite figure out what it was, so he tried his hardest to open his eyes, and when he did there was no snow around him, nor were there trees or the sky, he was inside what seemed to be a hospital room. 

That was confusing. 

He tried to move again, but he still felt too weak for it, so he decided to at least look to his right and see what was on his hand. His heart skipped a beat when he saw Lando's hand holding his, while he slept all slumped forward into a chair, with his head on the mattress. 

Everything that had happened suddenly dawned on him all over again, like a cold shower. The frozen clearing had been a dream, or maybe it would have been more appropriate to call it a nightmare, and the reason why he was lying in a hospital bed with Lando sleeping by his side, was that he had taken a blaster shot that was meant for Lando. 

He heard a surprised roar, and soon enough Chewbacca was in his line of sight, waving his arms and growling happily, making Lando jump awake. 

"Chewie! What the-" Lando's angry groan was soon cut off by the sight of Han being awake. "Han! You-" 

"Hey guys..." Han managed to croak out, a feeble smirk barely curving his lips. 

"You nearly died, you stupid idiot!" Lando sneered, letting go of Han's hand to point an accusatory finger at him "I would have brought you back to life only to kill you myself, if you dared leaving me like that!" 

Han furrowed his eyebrows, not knowing how to react to that, but he screwed his eyes shut as soon as Chewie started roaring pretty much the same things to him, only in a more colorful and insulting way. 

"Stop shouting! Both of you!" Han moaned, feeling a headache coming up "I just woke- Ow!" he suddenly cried out, screwing his eyes shut as a sharp pain shot through his chest. 

His hand went up to rest on the bandaged wound, and for the first time he looked down at it. It was right where shoulder and chest met, and the pain spread through his entire chest, making it suddenly hard to breathe. 

"I’ll call the nurse, so she can up the painkiller dose." Lando muttered as he went to stand up from his chair. 

"No, don’t. It’s alright." Han stopped him immediately. 

He didn’t want more painkillers, he didn’t want to have his mind hazed or go back to sleep, not now that he was awake. Lando glared at him for a short while, but then obliged and sat back down.

"How long was I out for?" Han asked, his voice coming out hoarse. He definitely could have used some water. 

"Three days." Lando sighed. 

"Three-" Han blinked, then arched an eyebrow "Don't tell me you've been sitting here... All this time..." 

He didn't know if he was ready to hear the answer, whatever it would have been, so he braced himself, holding his breath. 

"So what if I did?" Lando grumbled, sitting back in his chair and looking away "I couldn’t just leave you here, could I? Not after what happened." 

Chewbacca growled about something that really didn’t register to Han’s brain, and Lando completely ignored it, as well. 

Han's heart swelled, and he finally allowed himself to breathe again. His stomach was twisting and twitching, and even if he would have wanted to blame it on the fact that it was because he had been shot, he knew it was the stupid amount of feelings he had for Lando. 

"Are you..." Han's eyebrows furrowed "Blushing?" 

He studied Lando, his clothes looked wrinkled but they were different from the ones he'd been wearing three days before. It dawned on him that he’d probably bled all over him, and it definitely mustn’t have been fun. 

"Don't be ridiculous." Lando huffed, then looked over at Chewie "Can you... Leave us for a second?" 

Chewbacca moaned and growled in protest, but still left the room as he was instructed to do. Han didn't know if he was ready to be alone with Lando, but it wasn't like he could just get up from the bed and run away. Too many tubes, and too little strength. 

"I know it’s your job, but..." Lando’s jaw tightened and his eyes still didn’t meet Han’s "I really hated it. To see you taking that shot for me." 

"It is my job, yet I hoped no one would actually ever do that to you..." Han admitted. 

Lando’s eyebrows shot upwards as he turned to look at Han, and Han tilted his head slightly. He would have shrugged if he could’ve. 

"I don’t know why anyone would wanna kill you." Han went on, then arched an eyebrow "Ok, maybe I could personally think of a few reasons why-" 

"You kriffing-!"  
  
Han laughed, but it soon turned to a cry of pain. 

"That’s what you get." 

"You’re so sensitive." Han rolled his eyes, but there was a smirk playing on his lips. 

"Shut it." Lando grumbled. 

"But really, I never thought someone would actually do something like that." Han went on, and Lando just shrugged his shoulders. 

None of them really knew what to add to the conversation, and an uncomfortable silence fell upon them. Lando wasn’t looking at him again, and Han was starting to remember why he possibly wasn’t able to hold his gaze. 

In Han’s defense, he had really thought he wasn’t going to survive being shot. 

“Did they get the bastard, at least?” Han asked, as if the thought had only just crossed his mind. 

“Chewie, well-” Lando raised his eyebrows.

“Tore his arms off?” Han asked, knowing very well what Chewbacca could be capable of when angry. 

“Yeah.” Lando nodded with a grimace. 

“Serves him right.” Han sighed. 

Lando hummed in agreement, and the room went quiet once more. Han didn’t like how awkward that whole moment was, but he guessed it couldn’t be helped. Especially because Lando definitely remembered what Han had said after being shot. 

"Before you passed out in my arms..." Lando then started, and this time he was looking so hard into Han’s eyes that it made him shiver "You said something, but I think it was just the shock and the blood loss." 

"Did I?" Han let out another small, nervous laugh. 

"You said you didn’t take that shot for me because of the credits I pay you..." Lando paused, and his eyebrows furrowed "But because you love me." 

"I said that, huh?" Han’s voice trembled slightly, and this time it was his turn to look away. 

"You couldn’t have possibly meant it in _that_ way. Could you?" Lando continued. 

Han didn’t say anything in return. He just couldn’t bring himself to admit his feelings out loud once again. Not even with the knowledge that Lando had stayed by his bedside for three days straight, holding his hand. 

"Han?" Lando called out, his voice half and octave higher than normal. 

Han’s lips twitched, but still he didn’t let any sound escape them. He looked up at Lando, and the expression on his face looked so severe that he felt compelled to deny everything. 

He attempted to say something but the umpteenth small, nervous chuckle slipped out. Lando’s nostrils flared, and he slowly shook his head while he rose to his feet. That was when Han was sure that he was either about to leave or lash out at him in some way, but instead Lando leaned forward to press his lips against his, leaving him completely and utterly stunned. 

Lando felt the same. 

Lando was kissing him. 

He feared he might have still been in a comatose state and only dreaming about this, but it felt way too real. The warmness radiating from him, the smell of his cologne, the faint taste of kaf on his lips - too many details for a dream, this was reality. 

Of all the scenarios that had rapidly formed in his mind, Lando kissing him was the last he could have ever envisioned, and it took him more than a few seconds to actually respond in any way. He tried to raise his left hand to cup Lando's cheek, but ended up wincing with the pain of the wound, making Lando pull back in concern. 

“You ok?” Lando asked, eyes darting from Han's face to his injury. 

“I swear my lips aren't usually this chapped.” Han blurted out without even thinking about it, nor actually answering Lando's question. 

“What?” Lando's eyebrows furrowed, then a soft laugh left his lips. 

“I just… I don't know what I'm talking about.” Han groaned lowly, feeling his cheeks flare up. 

“Then stop talking.” Lando shrugged a shoulder, then caught Han's lips again with his. 

A shiver jolted up his spine, and a small moan evaded his control when Lando's tongue slipped inside his mouth. He wrapped his right arm around Lando's shoulders and tilted his head slightly to accommodate the kiss, as it got deeper and hungrier. 

Lando cupped his cheek as they kept kissing, pulling small, content sounds out of Han's throat. Had Han ever dreamed about doing something heroic and conquering Lando's heart? Perhaps he had, but that very moment he was living, definitely went beyond all his fantasies. 

His wound broke the spell again, as Han made the wrong movement that forced him to jerk back with a groan. 

“Guess we'll have to wait for you to get better.” Lando arched a brow, his tongue darting briefly through his lips. 

“Kriff…” Han sighed, resting heavily back against the pillow “As if I hadn't waited long enough…” he softly grumbled to himself. 

“Excuse me?” Lando scowled. 

“Nothing.” 

He had been lame enough for the time being, he didn't need to make it any worse. 

“I'll halve your pay if you don't tell me.” Lando threatened, and Han scoffed. 

“That the thank I get for saving your ass?” Han raised his eyebrows. 

“Told you, we gotta wait for you to get better. Then I'll thank you accordingly.” Lando nodded, the ghost of a mischievous smirk hovering his lips. 

Han swallowed thickly at that, but his mind also quickly went to the dark corner that told him that Lando was only doing that out of gratitude, and not real feelings. 

“Right…” was the only response he could bring himself to muster. 

Lando scowled at him in mild confusion, but Han decided he didn't have any energy left to sustain another conversation. 

“Tell the nurse I'm ready for my painkillers, alright?” 

“Yeah, sure.” Lando said, and stood up after lingering for a few too many seconds, looking like he was sitting on pins and needles. 

Then when he had made it to the door, he walked back to the foot of Han's bed, and stood there awkwardly until Han  scowled up at him. 

“I always thought you stayed for the money, and I kept raising your pay so you wouldn't leave.” Lando blurted out all of a sudden. 

Han's eyes widened at the confession, his jaw slacked as he tried to find the right words to say, but there weren't any.

“Didn't think you actually felt the way I did, too.” Lando went on, his gaze dropping to the floor. 

“So you're saying…” Han searched for Lando's eyes, and when they met again he felt like all those years he'd decided to stick around for, hadn't been a waste. 

“Yeah, I am.” Lando nodded “Should have said something sooner, before you actually took that hit for me.” 

“Well, I should’ve too…” Han tilted his head. 

“How could you? I was your boss, after all, I get it.” Lando pursed his lips. 

Han wanted to say that there were plenty of things that held him back, but he didn't want to ruin that moment, it wasn't flawless, but it was still beautiful. 

“I’ve tried to let you know, plenty of times… But you always pushed me away.” Lando went on, a humorless chuckle leaving his throat. 

So every time he’d read something a certain way he’d been right, all those glances, smiles, the stupid jokes, touches. Everything had always been a way to genuinely win his heart, just like he’d always liked to imagine. He wasn’t insane, it had been truly worth the wait. 

Sure, it had taken something dramatic to happen for Lando to actually come forth with his confession, but it wasn’t like Han hadn’t done the same. They’d both taken quite some time to make that move, and if three days before nothing had happened, these words probably would have never been uttered. It was sad to think about, because they had always been too scared of the other’s reaction to do anything about the way they felt. 

“I just thought you did that with everyone.” Han couldn’t help but confess. 

Lando’s expression warped to something that Han could only read as guilt, or maybe even sadness. 

“None of those people ever meant anything,” Lando sucked in a breath, as if all those words were boulders he was trying to push off of himself “not like you. But I thought you didn’t feel the same.” 

Han felt paralyzed, he could barely breathe. Of course he had looked like he didn’t feel that way, because he never thought that Lando was serious. 

“That time…” Han started, looking down at the covers “After your 24th birthday party, when we nearly-” 

“I really wanted that, but you didn’t.” Lando replied way quicker than Han had expected. 

“You were drunk, I didn’t think you meant it.” Han said, looking back up at Lando with a scowl “I didn’t even think you remembered about it.” 

“I pretended to forget about it.” Lando shrugged. 

Silence followed, while Han tried his hardest to process everything that was happening. It was hard and overwhelming, especially when he felt so weak and his wound couldn’t seem to be giving him a break. 

“If you-” Lando started, rolling his eyes “If you’d died, I would have never forgiven myself for not telling you.” 

There was a warm and happy feeling finally spreading through his chest, his stomach had been churning the whole time, heart hammering in his chest the more things Lando confessed, but now he felt… At ease, as if he’d come home after a long, exhausting journey. 

“You still ain't telling me.” Han arched an eyebrow, biting back a smirk. 

Lando let out a groan. 

“I could've _died_.” Han insisted, sounding as dramatic as he could. 

“Fine! You pedantic-” Lando cut himself off when Han raised his eyebrows “I love you.” he spread his arms for emphasis. 

“I know.” Han finally grinned. 

“I'll be back soon.” Lando rolled his eyes again, but this time he was smiling. He glanced one last time at Han, and left the room. 

Han bit his bottom lip and relaxed completely against the pillow, almost melting into it, as he smiled like an idiot. In that quiet moment, as he waited for Lando to come back to him, Chewbacca gave an exasperated growl. 

_“Kriffing finally! It only took you about a hundred years.”_  

Han furrowed his eyebrows, a horrified expression twisting his features as he glared at Chewie. 

“Have you been eavesdropping this whole time?!” Han snarled, outraged. 

_“‘Course I did! After spending all those years looking at you idiots staring longingly at each other without saying a word, I deserved to listen.”_ Chewie roared as he sat on the spare bed, with a cup of something that smelled like the most potent liquor ever. 

Was he even allowed to drink that in a hospital? In another situation Han would have probably nagged him about it, but he was way too bewildered by his words to react to his drink. 

_“I deserve a raise.”_ Chewie went on, shaking his massive head before taking a large sip of his drink. 

“When is the nurse coming to put me out of my misery?” Han cried, covering his entire head with the blanket, and trying to ignore Chewie’s complaints. 

He really needed those painkillers to make him numb to everything, including his best friend tormenting him about their boss. Even if Han would have rather stayed awake and be aware of Lando holding his hand, this time. 


End file.
